Temple Hangs On To Beat Maryland

WASHINGTON (AP) -- With a 15-point lead gone and all the momentum seemingly slipping away, Lavoy Allen kept cool and waited for the pass he knew Ramone Moore would make. Moore obliged, driving the lane to draw pressure before feeding Allen, who hit a layup, absorbed a foul and hit a free throw to give Temple the lead for good in a 64-61 victory over Maryland in the BB&T Classic.

"I saw (Ramone) driving to the basket and everyone got into the lane and crowded him," said Allen, who finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out late. "I was wide open, he passed me the ball, and I was there at the right time."

Moore finished with 16 points and Juan Fernandez had 14 for the Owls (5-2), who withstood a furious Maryland comeback to win their second straight.

Jordan Williams had 17 points and 11 rebounds for the Terrapins (6-3) for his seventh double-double this season.

Terrell Stoglin scored 12 of his 16 points in the second half, including a pair of free throws during an 8-0 run that tied it at 56 when James Padgett dunked in transition with 1:49 to play.

But after Allen's three-point play, Khalif Wyatt stole Dino Gregory's pass underneath the Temple basket to hit an open layup and stretch it to 61-56.

Stoglin's 3-pointer closed it to 63-61 with just seconds left but after Moore hit a free throw, Stoglin's half-court heave fell short.

"Terrific win for us, no question about it, against a terrific basketball program," said Temple coach Fran Dunphy, whose team finishes a five-game stretch away from home at 3-2. "For us, it's sort of a road win and it's a game that hopefully we make some strides at being a better basketball team."

Maryland had earlier closed what was a 40-25 lead to 42-38 during a stretch when Stoglin hit one of his two 3-pointers and added an inside layup.

Momentum appeared to change earlier in the half, when Maryland coach Gary Williams replaced four of five players on the floor at once -- everyone but Jordan Williams.

"The young guys came in and did a great job of flying around," Williams said. "I told the team after the game it doesn't have to be perfect, it's just (that) you have to play hard. We toughed it out and we could've won the game at the end."

Temple's defense had frustrated Maryland to that point, swiping 12 steals off the Terrapins, including nine before halftime.

The Owls also outrebounded Maryland 42-32 to take a 5-4 lead in the overall series in the teams' first meeting since 2006.

"I thought we read passing lanes pretty well and it certainly helped us in terms of putting some space between us and them," Dunphy said. "Obviously, as you saw down the stretch, we needed that space because I thought they were coming after us like gangbusters."

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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